44th Annual Washington Conference: Secretary of State John Kerry Signals an Era of Cooperation, Prosperity in the Americas

Washington, D.C. May 12, 2014—"Today it's crystal clear that if we work together and play our cards right, the Western Hemisphere can become literally the most stable and prosperous region in the world," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday at the 44th Annual Washington Conference on the Americas, an event co-organized by the Council of the Americas and the U.S. Department of State.

Addressing an audience of private sector members and public officials from across the region, Secretary Kerry highlighted the Western Hemisphere's transformation, noting that prosperity has been delivered through market integration and innovation. "It's a great story. It didn't happen by accident," he said. "It happened because leaders and institutions were willing to make the tough decisions to break away from the past, to try to make peace where there were insurgencies, and to open up new markets with trade agreements. They were prepared to commit to the future."

In his remarks Secretary Kerry outlined education, trade and economic integration, energy security, and governance as the four areas critical for the hemisphere to achieve greater economic development. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson highlighted the intense U.S. engagement with the region: "Today, almost every available metric – public opinion polls, levels of trade and investment, cultural and family ties, security cooperation, and the lively democratic debate in many countries – supports the view that U.S. engagement and influence in the hemisphere is on the rise."

The 44th Washington Conference on the Americas gathered a group of U.S. appointed and elected officials at the federal and state levels, who stressed the importance of inter-American relations based on cooperation.

In a moderated interview, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker focused on the Administration's work to promote trade agreements that support U.S. exports as a tool for economic growth and job creation. She specifically highlighted a Department of Commerce initiative called "Look South," which encourages U.S. firms to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities to export to the United States' 11 free-trade partners in Latin America. "There are cities in this country that the 100 percent of their growth since 2009 is because their companies are exporters," Pritzker said. "The world is not standing still. Countries are taking action with or without the U.S. and if we don't do these agreements where we say what the standard of trade should be in the twenty-first century, someone else is going to do it," she added.

Secretary Pritzker also highlighted the important role of foreign companies operating in the United States and the growth of foreign direct investment from Latin America, which stands at $321 billion, a 42 percent increase from 2008.

In a conversation with AS/COA President and CEO Susan Segal, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson outlined the progress made on several aspects of hemispheric relations, such as the visa waiver program and local trade and travel facilitation. He also pointed out areas where countries in the Americas need to strengthen cooperation and the private and public sector should continue sharing information and best practices, such as cyber security.

Secretary Johnson expressed his optimism with regards to immigration reform. "I believe that there is a certain inevitability to comprehensive immigration reform and it is just a matter of time," he said. "I believe that Congress will ultimately come around to it and also from their perspective I think it makes a tremendous amount of sense, so I'm optimistic that immigration reform will pass and I look forward to implement it."

Other speakers at the 44th Washington Conference on the Americas included Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine; Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank Jorge Familiar; and Carnegie Endowment Scholar Moisés Naím.

For more information, please contact Adriana La Rotta at alarotta@as-coa.org or (212) 277-8384.

To get conference materials, summaries, multimedia, and more visit: www.as-coa.org/wc2014